Why You Need Mobile App for Your eCommerce Business and retail outlets

Ecommerce is on the rise and the contribution of mobile towards it is humongous!!! The influence of mobile phones has changed the outlook of ecommerce business by providing more prominence for customer experience, specific targeting and cross-channel connect.

These new-age demands are those which help business stay on top amidst the competition and here is how they can achieve it using mobile commerce as a medium.

Mobile-moments

Customer experience was once associated with UI, navigation, easy checkout, signout etc. As most of the online business have got these things right the focus has shifted to providing information and instruction based on the requirement of users which helps them make the buying decision as evaluate a brand’s customer-friendliness.

Google defines these demands into four different ‘micro-moments’ - ‘I want to know’, ‘I want to go’, ‘I want to buy’, and ‘I want to do’.

Mobile apps have the ability to understand a customer's intention and help businesses come up with what they want to convert them. Let’s see how mobile commerce apps can help you do that.

‘I want to know’ - At this moment, customers want to know information. Retailers can give additional information about their store or products and a few suggestions to decide. Delivering these information to their mobile phones at a brick and mortar showroom can be done using Beacon technology which pushes information by detecting bluetooth enabled devices around a specific, often small geographical area.

‘I Want to Do’ - This moment is all about guiding a user towards ‘how to do’. Instructional videos, typically. By providing instructions or demo videos for products in mobile apps and ecommerce websites, ecommerce brands can make customers understand a product better and convince them to buy.

‘I Want To Go’ - This moment often arises with those who are last-minute decision makers or wish to shop on the go. These customers prefer brands to customize information based on their location. Physical retail outlets can provide information on nearest location of their outlet where the product a user has searched for is available. In case of ecommerce brands, providing personalized offers based on a user's location based is a use case.

‘I Want to Buy Moments’ - This is the time an eCommerce brand doesn't want to lose a customer. After all the efforts for pulling crowd, losing them due to lack of payment convenience is a huge miss for businesses of all sizes. Payment flexibility must exist across multiple platforms. Providing a single-page integrated checkout in a mobile commerce app and eCommerce stores with options like auto fill, location tracking etc can help in providing a zippy payment experience for customers.

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Gathering and analyzing data

Mobile apps are arguably the easiest mode to gather user information and study behavior. Shopping preferences, abandoned carts, frequency and everything other user action tells a story about a visitor which can be used to figure out their expectations.

Apart from getting better with understanding customers, mobile apps provide insights on the rise and fall of demands of each product. Best sellers, average performers, seasonal demands, purchase patterns can tip business on optimizing their portfolio, procurement and product recommendations.

Gathering and analyzing data. Your e-commerce app will help you understand how your customers behave and what their preferences are. It is very important in terms of being responsive to their needs and improving your services. If you know your audience well and tailor your products/services accordingly, it will translate as improved customer loyalty.

Multiple customer touchpoints

Improving the number of touchpoints creates a business additional opportunities to sell. Ecommerce became the first digital touchpoint where a business can reach potential buyers apart from physical stores. With mobile devices contributing over 40 percent of ecommerce traffic, mobile commerce apps are the new and the most sought after customer touchpoint.

Creating a native app for your ecommerce store can get a business to the fingertips of millions of customers and having said this, it is hard to find an excuse for not having a mobile app built.

Cross-channel customer experience

Multiple customer touchpoints and cross channel connect can be misunderstood as similar terms but a thin line differentiates them. Multiple channel connect is increasing the number of ways a customer can access the business but cross-channel connect is optimizing the experience across all sales channels and creating a seamless connectivity amongst them.

Businesses must realize the fact that cross-channel connect is about providing a seamless experience across multiple customer touchpoints. In case of mobile commerce apps, this cross connect can be established easily as the app will be seamlessly connected with ecommerce store backend thus providing a single interface to manage all duties.

How to get started ?

If this is the most bothering question in your mind right now it is best that you get started with a readymade mobile commerce app building solution.

Certain readymade solutions are platform specific while a few support multiple eCommerce development platforms like Magento, PrestaShop, OpenCart, WooCommerce and CMSes like WordPress etc.

Contus M-Comm, Volusion and Apphitect Mobile Commerce solution some of the best names in readymade mobile commerce app development solution.